SOLVED Trinity APUs & power gating on win 7

[MAL22]

As I am about to buy a new laptop for school and my own pleasure I looked at trinity very closely and I have those three questions for anybody who might be able to answer them:

1. Considering trinity has the ability to shutdown modules with power gating, if I modified my windows 7 boot settings so it would only use the first module, would the trinity chip shutdown "permanently" the second module?

2. If the a10-4600m and the a6-4400m both have the same TDP, does that mean they have the same power consumption/same autonomy on a laptop?

3. Anybody knows a software similar to k10stat or RMclock that works for bulldozer/piledriver?

 

[BeepBeep2]

As I am about to buy a new laptop for school and my own pleasure I looked at trinity very closely and I have those three questions for anybody who might be able to answer them:

1. Considering trinity has the ability to shutdown modules with power gating, if I modified my windows 7 boot settings so it would only use the first module, would the trinity chip shutdown "permanently" the second module?

2. If the a10-4600m and the a6-4400m both have the same TDP, does that mean they have the same power consumption/same autonomy on a laptop?

3. Anybody knows a software similar to k10stat or RMclock that works for bulldozer/piledriver?

1. Not sure. ...what do you mean by permanently though?

2. It means they both need the same heat to be dissipated (Thermal Design Power), usually they are around the same power consumption...but chances are the A10 will use a little more.

3. PSCheck works with Piledriver.

 

[Frakk]

2. It means they both need the same heat to be dissipated (Thermal Design Power), usually they are around the same power consumption...but chances are the A10 will use a little more.

Right... as i understand it TDP is the Max heat in watts the CPU is designed to handle, that's not to say it will produce that much heat, usually stock its no where near that, once you start over clocking is when you start pushing toward that TDP.

If i give you an example, an FX-8120 has a 95 Watt TDP, the FX-8150 is exactly the same chip but has a 125 Watt TDP, both chips will use exactly the same power and produce exactly the same heat at the same clocks, but the FX-8150 will have a higher overclocking range with its 125 Watt TDP than the FX-8120 with its 95 Watt TDP.

Trinity A10 has the same TDP as an A8 Llano, however mobile reviews have shown Trinity actually uses much less power than Llano, so that also indicates it runs cooler and has a much higher overclocking range

 

[MAL22]

1. Not sure. ...what do you mean by permanently though?

By "permanently" I mean that the second module is going to be shutdown until I reconfigure windows boot options to use that second module. And if I am right, this would give more margin to the CPU/GPU to turbo and reduce power consumption.

Are the mobile trinity going to be unlocked just like llano?

 

[Frakk]

By "permanently" I mean that the second module is going to be shutdown until I reconfigure windows boot options to use that second module. And if I am right, this would give more margin to the CPU/GPU to turbo and reduce power consumption.

Are the mobile trinity going to be unlocked just like llano?

Mobile Trinity? IE Laptop's.... that's a very good question. On the Desktop the K variants are unlocked, you can overclock both the CPU and the IGPU.

I have not seen any K variants of any Mobile APU's, but it might not be inconceivable that they may allow some overclocking on the IGPU, not that they do at the moments, that i know of. its an intresting concept tho.

PS: locking 1 module will reduce power consumption, but i don't see how it will increase Turbo boost or anything like that. its fixed. Also the power consumption on Trinity, battery life. is already pretty good....

 

[MAL22]

Well, I heard some ppl were able to overclock mobile llano through the FSB so nvm the "unlocked" stuff. I know the turbo is fixed but never mind. Anybody saw some 14"-15.6" laptops with the A10-4600M and a 7670M? Because I'm wondering if I should invest in a laptop that can actually game somewhere near my desktop (Phenom 9750 & HD 5770) or just go for the plain A10-4600M for better battery life?

 

[Frakk]

Not with CF, no. there is this http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-4600m-trinity-piledriver,3202.html

Crossfire does not work in all games, they are probably less likely to work in APU + Discrete GPU. but they are always improving drivers to make more and more games compatible.

At its best i would think a CF setup should get somewhere close to a 5770. But don't hold me to that

You should get playable PFS at lower GFX settings for most games with the APU alone, if the CF works its a bonus.

No doubt without the Discreet GPU your battery life will be significantly better, even a mobile GPU is pretty hungry, having said that its not going to make such a big difference when your not gaming as the GPU will go into an idle low power state.

 

[MAL22]

Ok because I saw the acer Aspire V3-551G-X888 with the A10 and one 7670M but the battery life is really THE number one factor I am considering. But I can't go that bad if I compare any trinity based laptop to my athlon 2650e which manages 5hours on a 9-cell battery. Maybe I should just go for the iGP of the A10 since my desktop can do better (except for the CPU) and that a laptop's touchpad is VERY annoying when gaming.

 

[MAL22]

Screw the acer laptop. Found the HP dv6z-7000. I can customize it at my will. The 7670M (40nm VLIW4) or the 7730M (28nm GCN)? I can also get a 9-cell battery for an extra 30$, one 6 and one 9 for an extra 60$ and two nine cells for an extra 90$ That's damn cheap!

 

[Frakk]

wooo... hey, that's a nice Laptop, and fairly cheap too.

I don't know what the performance difference is between the 7670M and 7730M but usually a 28nm is better in every way than a 40nm.

Do they both CF with the APU? your getting into a territory i know little about

Help... Laptop guru needed

 

[MAL22]

The 7730M is made of GCN shaders which are not compatible with the VLIW4 shaders of the 7660G so the 7660G + 7670M beats the 7730M. And when a game doesn't support that crossfire I bet either the APU or the 7670M alone can handle that game.

 

[MAL22]

Damn... the dv6z-7000 is US only. Screw Canada....

Edit: Can only be shipped from HP's website to US

 

[Frakk]

Damn... the dv6z-7000 is US only. Screw Canada....

Edit: Can only be shipped from HP's website to US

Phone them up and ask them to ship it to a Canadian HP outlet.

 

[MAL22]

I sent them an email for now since I doubt they'll accept that kind of query.